And with the third deep, slow, intentional breath of in-spiration, I realized that I exist, here, now, in this body and mind, now more full of spirit, and I can take responsibility for whole myself first, feeding myself that first food — air — before abandoning myself in the service of everyone and everything around me.

And when I breathe, first, second, third, then respond to others, they actually receive the real me, not some abandoned, breathless carcass.

“they actually receive the real me, not some abandoned, breathless carcass.”
Wow! Well said.
Sometimes we think we are doing better for other people when we kill ourselves but nurturing ourselves is better for us and the people we are interacting with.